Lpc2000

I agree: most commercial companies (and certainly most large 
companies) more or less have to operate on this basis (i.e. copyright 
everything they do).

Don't forget that just because something is copyright doesn't mean to 
say it can't be freely distributed under whatever terms the company 
or organisation chooses.

I have to say, I'd be a bit concerned if someone was distributing 
copyright material without explicit permission from the owner, 
regardless of how trivial it might seem. The alternative is an 
interesting take on the law (i.e. "I'll ignore it if I think it 
trivial").

As you point out, Paul, someone put the effort into creating the work 
in the first place. If they want to distribute it freely (and as you 
point out, there's plenty of cases where they'd be mad to do 
otherwise), that's fine. However, I'd certainly check before offering 
somone else's work around first (I'm not implying this wasn't done in 
this case, by the way: just making a general observation).

Brendan


--- In lpc2000@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Curtis" <plc@r...> wrote:
>
> Tom, 
> 
> > >With respect - if they are not distributing them yet - 
> > neither should you.
> > >I presume they are copyrighted?
> > >
> > Probably patented too...  Seems that a number of people slap a 
> > boilerplate copyright header into everything they do, even 
> > trivial code, 
> > or stuff that isn't theirs.  e.g. header files describing 
register 
> > locations and bit values / name.  In the case of the header 
> > files, they 
> > are using the exact verbage as Philips.
> > 
> > Now how can you justify asserting that you have a copywrite 
> > on something 
> > that isn't yours???  Apparently Microsoft is not the only one to 
use 
> > Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt?!
> 
> All our header files are generated from XML descriptions and those 
are
> also used in the debugger and build system.  As to copyright, the 
person
> who typed in the names does it for the company they are working for 
and,
> as such, it is part of their job to ensure that even trivial things 
are
> copyrighted.  Given the large number of registers that some ARM 
chips
> have, this is not a trivial task.  Hence, a copyright is an 
essential
> part of software and product development to ensure that a competitor
> does not simply steal your work.
> 
> The copyright is on the item that was written.  Philips copyright 
their
> manuals and data sheets.  However, I do not believe they would 
stifle
> product development by requiring tool vendors to pay them a license 
fee
> to use their peripheral register names.  If they did, they'd not be
> competetive.
> 
> --
> Paul Curtis, Rowley Associates Ltd  http://www.rowley.co.uk
> CrossWorks for MSP430, ARM, AVR and now MAXQ processors
>